Sometimes called situation puzzles, they typically involve
a situation which requires some kind of explanation or answer. There is
usually insufficient information to solve the problem at first sight so the
solver has to ask questions or propose solutions. The best lateral thinking
puzzles are intriguing and seemingly illogical yet have a satisfying answer.
See the list of classic lateral thinking puzzles for examples.

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2. How do I submit a question?

Simply register and submit your question within the puzzle
thread. Once you are registered you can submit questions and new puzzles as
often as you wish.

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3. How do I submit a new puzzle?

Once you have registered you can pose your own puzzles.
However, you then have the responsibility of answering questions submitted by
others. You should keep your answers succinct and accurate. Yes/No answers
are generally best though you can give other answers e.g. irrelevant or
please rephrase. Your answers should never deliberately mislead.

Please keep in mind that this is a lateral puzzles forum. This
means we do situational puzzles here, asking questions that can be answered
with Yes or No. The forum is NOT meant for riddles or mathematical puzzles,
there are other forums and newsgroups where those can be posted.

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4. What if I think I know the answer?

If you find a puzzle to which you know the answer because
you heard or read the puzzle before, please do NOT post the solution. e-mail
your solution to the puzzle host, to ask whether your solution is the one
s/he has in mind. If it is, please stay out of the puzzle. If it is not, of
course you can join and ask questions about it! There are always people who
don't know the solution yet, and you would spoil the fun of puzzling for them
by posting an answer straight away. The fun here is not in knowing the
solution to a puzzle, but in figuring it out!

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5. How do I post the answer to my own puzzle?

If someone has given the answer or something extremely
close then by all means post the answer but please put the word SPOILER in
the title of your posting so that people browsing the puzzle will not have
their pleasure ruined.

We want to keep this discussion group to lateral puzzle
fans and to exclude those who would wish to post spam or porn messages. That
is why users are registered and can be de-registered.

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8. What if I forget my user ID or password?

Please re-register.

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9. Should all puzzles be original or can I post a
classic puzzle?

If you'd like to post a puzzle which you didn't make up
yourself, please remember that a lot of the puzzlers here are very
experienced with lateral puzzles and know most, if not all, of the puzzles
that have been circulating for years, or classics, as we call them.
Before posting a classic, please search the forum for clues from the
description and/or the solution using the Keyword Search and if that puzzle
has been posted in the previous two weeks, please refrain from posting it
again.
You can of course post any classic you like, but don't be discouraged if
nobody asks a question, because chances are you'll have to wait for someone
new to the forum to give it a try, as the older members already know them.
Also, it is appreciated if you start your puzzle subject in this case with
"Classic: ..".

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10. How do I show answers to the questions for my
puzzle?

When hosting a puzzle, please
copy all the questions asked and make your answers stand out from the
questions by boldfacing them using either the forum's formatting codes or
plain HTML codes, like <b>this</b>.

When sending a post, please check your post in the Preview screen that
appears after pushing the Preview/Post Message button and check whether you
made any typing errors. Errors in formatting will turn up on the Preview
screen.

If your puzzle is solved, you are supposed to put a post up stating ***** SPOILER ******
[your solution here.]